Wall Street draws ex-lawmakers

Wall Street has dramatically expanded its influence on Capitol Hill over the past year, using a lobbying army that includes nearly 1,500 former federal employees and 73 former members of Congress who have been deployed during debate on financial reform legislation.

Citigroup, Visa, the American Bankers Association, Prudential Financial and Goldman Sachs have drawn some of the top experts from Capitol Hill — with each organization registering nearly 50 people who formerly worked in the government, according to a joint report released today by the Center for Responsive Politics and Public Citizen.

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Of the 73 lawmakers-turned-lobbyists touting Wall Street’s interests, 17 served on congressional banking committees during their time in office, including former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley (R-Ohio), a co-author of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Other former powerhouses doing Wall Street’s bidding include former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and former House Majority Leaders Dick Armey (R-Texas) and Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.). One former member, Rep. Vin Weber (R-Minn.) has a whopping 13 financial sector clients.

To be sure, many of these members have been lobbying for financial clients since well before the financial legislation was introduced last year. But their influence has only grown in wake of the financial crisis.

“Wall Street hires former members of Congress and their staff for a reason,” said Public Citizen Congress Watch Division Director David Arkush. “These people are influential because they have personal relationships with current members and staff. It's hard to say no to your friends."

Besides members of Congress, Wall Street bankers have also snapped up some of the brightest former staffers from financial committees.

At least 66 registered financial lobbyists previously worked as staffers on either a House or Senate banking committee, and 82 worked for members of Congress who sat on one of the banking committees. Another 42 served at some point in the Treasury Department with at least seven serving in some form in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Among the high profile staffers-turned-lobbyists are Andrew Lowenthal, the former minority staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Securities, who once served as a key staffer for Sen. Chris Dodd. Nate Gatten, the former top banking aide to Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), later jumped to become a lobbyist for Fannie Mae, and Joi Sheffield served as the Democratic staff director of a Senate Banking subcommittee, now a lobbyist for financial regulators.

Even more intriguing, dozens of current banking lobbyists have previously worked for members of Congress who are still serving on the Senate or House Banking Committees — a key relationship connection.